Gucci Designer Sunglasses

Spot Knock-Off Gucci, Tom Ford Sunglasses and more

⌊et's start with safety. Fake sunglasses do not protect your eyes, generally lacking the special lenses that have passed the British Standard test[1]. Therefore your eyes will not be protected from the harmful UVA and UVB rays scorching from the sun. And dark lenses alone do not matter. They can actually be more brutal, since they force the pupil to peel open to allow in more light, and more of those blazing UV rays. That is actually more ultra-violet light burning your retinas than if you wore no sunglasses at all. Fake sunglasses will put your vision at risk. 100% of all fake polarized eyewear does nothing to protect your eyes. Even it says so.

So to weed out these fakes, we have some key points for you to look for: 1. Price: Despite the great deals on ebay, authentic designer eyewear will still never sell for next to nothing. Most online sellers of authentic merchandise purchase off-season eyewear discounted in bulk, (they rarely obtain the current season or limited edition items). Now along with that, selling online costs a fraction of what it costs to run a brick and mortar store. The online seller does not have to pay a premium for a fancy location, or any location. Does not have to buy display cases, racks or registers. Does not have to spend thousands of dollars to market their store and their products. And in most cases, does not have to hire any employees. Therefore, ebay sellers can pass on that savings to you. But authentic designer eyewear will still not sell for next to nothing. At times you may get lucky and score a pair of Gucci glasses at an ebay auction from a reputable seller, but that is rare. The seller may gamble with you. But even then, designer eyewear will still never sell for next to nothing. If it looks to good to be true it (probably) is.
2. Point of origin: Where were they made? Well, they should not say Made in Taiwan etc. Most of all the top brands are made by:

Guides for brands from manufacturing group list: [more brands to be added] Note: Some designer brands do have factories in China. Yes, these brands are authentic still. For instance, many of the models put out by their second tier labels like, "Marc by Marc Jacobs, " or "Just Cavalli by Roberto Cavalli" etc, are made in China. But the premier label like "Roberto Cavalli, " or Marc Jacobs will be made in Italy.
3. Weight: Fake sunglasses are made with cheaper materials and are lightweight and tend to rattle. Authentic sunglasses are made with better quality materials and should have some weight to them. Hold them in your hand and feel for some resistance. Their may be a slight rattle, but not too much. If they feel too flimsy they are probably fake. [For another example of counterfeit detection by means of an item's According to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition[2] (IACC), counterfeit sunglasses shatter easily and the screws loosen quickly. But you don't need to wait for your glasses to fall apart to realize you have been ripped off. Fold and unfold the arms. The joints should feel strong. There should be nothing loose and almost no rattle. The hinges should feel stiff but smooth.

5. Model: Everything about the sunglasses should be written on the arms.

Example: Below is an authentic Gucci inner temple arm:
Made in Italy GG 3077/S A7NBN 60 16 130
6. Details: Look for tiny branding details. Tiny details are a waste of time and money for the counterfeiter. They will overlook them because they assume you will too. The logo font is another tell. It's a detail that a fake might have wrong. Study every millimeter of your product and look for the details, and familiarize yourself with them.

Example: Below is an image of authentic Tom Ford sunglasses.

[Note] The small gold logo detail on the tip of the arm. Many counterfeiters would not go through the trouble of reproducing a detail like this.

Example: Below are images of a fake Gucci (left) next to an authentic Gucci (right). Notice the difference in fonts on the Gucci logo's. The fake Gucci's lens sticker is cleary wrong. Also note the color of the cleaning cloth, Gucci does not have any baby blue cleaning cloths, and the font on the fake cleaning cloth is also wrong.
In the image (below) of a fake Gucci lens, we see a Gucci logo printed on the top corner of the lens, something Gucci rarely does, and to make spotting this fake even easier, the font is also wrong. Note: The font is wrong. A key point in spotting fake designer sunglasses. Also, Gucci very rarely (if ever) puts the Gucci logo on their lens in this fashion. 8. Seller: Research who you are buying from. Read feedback, specifically when buying on on eBay. Look for things like, "Thanks for the refund" again and again. Many sellers sell fake merchandise with a money back guarantee, and an inflated shipping rate. They will offer a refund on the purchase price but not on the inflated shipping rate. They will make money on the shipping, over and over. [Also take a look at the inflated re-stocking fee scam, in action here].

9. Compare: Go to the mall where they sell designer brands and try on the eyewear. Get familiar with all the above points. Compare a cheap or fake pair of glasses to them. The more you handle these brands the easier spotting a fake becomes.
Now fake sunglasses may have one, or even a number of these points. But very few fakes will have all of these points. This is a foundation to start with. I'm sure we have left out many more factors and details, but this should be a good fundamental point of reference. There are other guides that have other details on specific brands that we do not have (as of yet) here, check those out too. Learn as much as you can because nobody wants to be ripped off. You work hard for your money, don't let some shady seller swindle you out of it.